Abbott Ups Haas to Top Lobbyist | Downtown Moves

The pharmaceutical and health care company promoted Rosemary Haas to vice president of federal government affairs. It also created a new trade policy team headed by Jason Grove, who will manage global issues.

An outside spokeswoman for the company said neither was available for comment because Abbott does not allow its government affairs employees to speak with the press.

Haas has been with Abbott since 1984 and spent the past nine years as a senior director in federal government affairs. She has focused on tax, nutrition and health care policy and spearheaded the company’s effort to repeal the medical device tax included in the Affordable Care Act, according to a company press release.

Grove, who led intellectual property initiatives for Abbott, previously worked on the Hill for then-Sens. Mike DeWine and George Voinovich, both Ohio Republicans.

Abbott spent $2.1 million on federal lobbying in 2013, according to lobbying disclosure reports filed with the Secretary of the Senate. That represented a significant drop in spending from 2012 when it reported a $6.2 million lobbying tab, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

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Don Wolfensberger is a resident scholar at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center and former staff director of the House Rules Committee.